Welcome to 2010

Here it is. We've left the Noughties and now we're in the... well, I'm not sure what we're calling this decade, but it's here anyway. New Decade, New Year. More resolutions. Turning a new page, blah blah blah.

Last year was a little rough on me in some ways, and absolutely brilliant in other ways, but I'm starting this one with some definite plans. I have a list and everything. (Are you shocked?) My biggest resolution is to be a whole lot better with my money. Last year I nearly blew a lot of opportunities and I got into a lot of trouble because I didn't save. If it hadn't been for Neil bailing me out constantly I'd have been screwed several times over. So this year I'm gonna start saving. Possibly. Going from bad-with-money to saving is a hell of a leap, so although that's my goal, I'll be happy if I can just pay my damn bills. It isn't that difficult. Billions of people pay bills every day, so why can't I?

I'm also going to find lots of classes and courses and groups and things to keep me busy. Family and friends are concerned that me dropping out of university means that I'm going to vanish into my room and become a hermit again. This is a very valid fear, especially with all the hilarious internet blogs I keep finding. But I have plans. There is a 10 week cookery class starting next week which I'm signing up for. There's a Silversmithing Jewellery class that starts in April, and a Fused Glass Jewellery class in May that I'm also interested in. There's an Open University creative writing course that I plan on joining, and a fiction writing one as well. There are a million courses I've found (or plan on finding) online - maths ones, shorthand, photography, use of photoshop, writing, etc. Yes, I know that online courses will technically keep me indoors, but stop being pedantic. As well as these classes, I still have Brownies on a Friday. I still go to Stitch and Bitch on a Thursday. Jen and I are planning on creating a non-university-affiliated Knit and Natter society on a Tuesday. I found a knitting society in a library in Biddulph, and a writing society, and I'm joining a reading group. I also want to do more quiz nights, so I'm keeping an eye out for those too.

I'm keeping to the annual standard resolution of "lose weight". I've put on a bit while I was, and I've been a whale for years. While I'm not too fussed with it, my weight does put pressure on my ankle and I have ovary problems that won't be helped either. If I ever want kids, I need to lose a significant amount of weight. So I'm going back to Weightwatchers. On that train of thought I plan on getting hold of a swimming costume that fits and going swimming regularly, and walking more regularly.

Creatively speaking - I had a minor breakthough the other night when curled up with Neil. I had to sit up and type and ended up with a promising paragraph or two. I'll look at it in a bit and see if I can make it into something. I'm going to do more writing exercises, and I will do more bloody writing, damnit! I'm doing weekly photography missions - this week's is to take fifty photos of things beginning with the letter C (next week's is bright pink) - to work on my photography skills, and after I made that video a while back for a new thing I had a craving to make more, so I might do some of them too.

And 52 New Things is continuing, in a new incarnation. This year is 52 Challenges. I've got a list of challenges (and will keep accepting more) and I plan on doing one a week. If I complete the challenge I put £5 into savings to spend at the end of year, and if I fail I donate the £5 to charity. Unless otherwise mentioned, the challenges have a deadline of one week. The first one has to do with watching a whole lot of movies, but I'll be blogging about the Challenges, just like I blogged about the New Things.

So you see, lots of plans to keep myself busy. I'm also hoping to move shortly. My plan for the past year or so has been to stay in this shared house until I graduate, then to move to Preston to be closer to Neil. This has changed. Now that I'm not going to graduate, I was tempted to move to Preston this year. When I got home after my trip away and Christmas at Mum's the state of this house appalled me. It's a long and messy story, and continues on from previous blogs I've written about hating living in a shared house. I moved into a shared home a year and a bit ago because living alone was driving me nuts. I've now discovered that living in a shared house drives me even more nuts. After discussion with Neil though, I've decided I'm not moving to Preston. He doesn't want to move in with me until after he's paid off his loan and that's likely to take another three years. I don't particularly want to leave all my friends and my life here in Stoke just yet, but I can't stand living in this house for another three years, so I'm getting a flat here until Neil is ready. I just need to find somewhere. As soon as is bloody possible. Depending on how it goes, you may get a nice long rant about this sometime soon.

I think that's it. Lots of plans. Mostly I just want to stay at a handle-able depression level. I want to stay with Neil. I want to stay in control of things. I want to be happy. And I wish you all the same. Apart from the Neil thing. He's mine. Back off.